Red Sun Rising
by l0rdn1hilus
Summary: A collection Of Short Stories Chronicling Magneto's Childhood memories. And the decisions he will make that will mold him into the Master of Magnetism and Self Proclaimed Saviour of Mutantkind. [Magneto's POV] [Age: 13 to 14 years starting from chapter 1]
1. Darkness Falls

**Red Sun Rising.**

**X-men Evolution is Copyright Warner Brothers And Marvel Studios. Or At Least...For Now.**

**Chronicles Magneto's most Painful Experiences In the Nazi State and Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and why Little Erik Magnus Lensherr decided to become the Master Of Magnetism. (Magneto's POV)**

**A/N: Helene Lensherr (Magneto's Mother.)**

**Joseph Lensherr (Magneto's Father.)**

**Reinhardt Heydrich (Head of Hitler's Police Force, The SS)**

**P.S: No Racism Meant Here, I have to write this in A Historical Context, and This IS how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany.**

**Act One: Darkness Falls.**

"From This Day Forward, Under The Nuremberg Laws, All Jews shall Have their Citizenship removed, Their Place As Rightful Nazi Citizens Repealed. No Jew Shall Hold A Job, Vote, Or Even----."

There is a small "bzzt" and the radio voice is cut off.

Lightning spears across The Midnight Sky, and my father buries his face in his hands, sighing.

He whispers to himself, thinking I cannot hear.

But I do.

"The situation is becoming untenable, we have to leave Germany, flee to somewhere where it's safe...I won't..."

My Mother steps in, and puts her hands around my Father.

"Dear, Is everything Alright?"

My father gets up, and strides over to the window.

"No, Dear, Nothing is Anymore..."

Lightning flashes again. And this time, rain starts to pour. The slight trickle of Water falling off the roof onto the Window breaks the eerie silence.

"The Enabling Act, The Reichstag Fire, The Vice-Chancellorship, Now these...Nuremberg 'Laws' as he calls them...It's a prelude to Disaster I say! Adolf Hitler Will----"

My mother quickly puts her hand around my father's mouth; she whispers something about "Not here, Not Now, the Schutzstaffel Might be..."

After that I hear nothing, my Father suddenly flies into a rage, slamming his fist onto the walls.

I do admit my fears, I am scared, but in my Heart, I somehow feel Anger, A slight tinge of rage towards those who hold their shadow of Fear over my Family.

"Helene, we are in Mortal Danger with or without the Damn 'SS'. As our new "Reich Fuhrer" says, We Aren't Citizens of Germany anymore! I can't let Erik Live like this, Not Like A dog, persecuted by his fellow..."

My mother puts a finger on my father's lips, and silences him.

"Joseph, he's your Son, and He is our responsibility, we need to protect him."

My father sighs, and he nods his head, and puts a hand on my mother's shoulders.

"Yes...yes...I still have some contacts in Berlin, we can flee, escape to America...We can..."

At that Moment, a Mustard gas grenade goes flying through the Window, shattering the glass and interrupting my father's thoughts.

I do not need to know what this means, my Mother and Father quickly scramble to my aid and clamp some sort of mask over my face, and run into the basement.

"Helene, stay here, and whatever happens, keep Erik safe."

My Father grabs a shotgun, and heads upstairs.

After a short while, my father comes back down, but he nods, saying it is safe.

"Helene, it is not safe for us to stay in Germany anymore, we have to..."

My father's repertoire is interrupted by three sharp knocks on the door.

"Stay here" commands my father.

My mother only nods, grabbing me as tightly as possible.

I want to say I am scared, but I know I must be courageous; this is not the time to falter.

The men outside knock again, and this time, it sounds a lot more impatient.

"Joseph Lensherr! Open this door! You are accused for crimes against the Nazi State! The Fuhrer demands your immediate arrest and sentencing!"

My father responds, this time it is in a mocking tone, something I have never seen him do before.

"For what? Crimes of being A Jew? I helped this "Fuhrer" Of yours along the way, and this is my reward? Reinhardt, surely you know it is people like I who have helped this "Fuhrer" get where he is now! He owns us Jews more than anything! If it is anyone who should be arrested it is he! I have suffered enough! Leave me, and my Family, alo-----"

They break down the door, and point their rifles, point-blankly, at my father.

"Did you get that all on tape, Men?"

"Yes, Herr Reinhardt!"

"Excellent, Excellent, You do know now, Joseph, that under the Nuremberg Laws, You "Jews" are prohibited from having any manner of free speech that may be taken as opposition to the Fuhrer? No?"

My father has his back up against the wall, and the gun pointed to his face.

"I...I didn't..."

"Too bad." responds the man.

I don't know what happens next, but I hear a muffled "thump" and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

I hear the Man's voice again, and this time it is cold, without Mercy.

"Take him to the truck; we'll take him to the firing squad in..."

"NO!" I scream in protest.

My mother quickly covers my mouth, silencing my screams.

The man stops speaking, and I hear the heavy "clunk" of his boots headed this way.

Then, he stops.

I hear a faint "click" sound, and later, he fires two gunshots through the basement door.

"More Jews, Eh..."

He orders his men to break the door down, and take us away.

"Knock them out, both of them." he offers as parting words to my Mother and me.

He then proceeds to knock out my Mother and then me.

Next when I wake up, I am in a truck, on my way to an unknown location.

"Mother...father, Where are we..."

My father speaks first, still dizzy but alive.

"Erik...We are...on our way to Dachau, for..."

I respond before he finishes.

"What? Dachau? The countryside?"

"Yes...We are going to...face a firing squad."

I slump, my back against the wall.

"A firing...but those are for...political prisoners..."

"Yes...Magnus, you have to understand...I am a political prisoner."

"But...Father...I thought you worked FOR Hitler."

"I...Am an enemy of the state, I am A Jew."

I respond, in a hushed voice.

"We're traitors, Because we Are Jewish?"

The truck stops, and A Nazi Officer tells us to get out.

We are made to stand on a wooden podium behind a trench, to die.

"Any last Wishes? Herr Joseph?"

My Father defiantly responds.

"Only That Justice is done here."

The Officer grimaces, and raises his hand.

The Span of time between though and execution seems to extend, and in that span of time, I close my eyes and scream.

"NO!"

I raise my hands in defence, knowing it's all futile.

But, In the end, I accept my death.

But some part of me, some part, just tells me that it's not my time.

The guns fire, but the bullets never hit.

The officer stands, amazed, the bullets float in mid-air.

I open my eyes, and I am amazed.

The bullets, suspended by some manner of...Magnetic force, stop.

Is this my doing? Is this what I am?

A...Mutant?

I don't have much time to think, as the officer regains his composure and buts me in a chokehold.

He screams, "Kill them! NOW!"

I want to save my Parents, trying to turn the guards' own weapons against them.

But, something hard hit my head, and I begin to lose consciousness.

And, as I slip into unconsciousness, I see the guns fire, my parents falling.

I want to help, but, what can I do?

Except Watch.

And Wait.

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END

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	2. Homo Sapiens Superior

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Two: Homo Sapiens Superior.**

It has been what? Two days since they knocked me out?

Where am I? Ah...yes, Dachau.

I...I...remember something, I remember saving my parents from death...stopping the guards' bullets with my force of will, only to watch them die before my very eyes...and then I slipped into the darkness.

They put me in some kind of stone cell... in solitary confinement, only with a bed and radio.

I turn on the radio, waiting to hear the news; hoping that this will all be sorted out.

The radio crackles to life, buzzing and humming.

I eagerly turn the tuning knobs, waiting to hear the announcement of this whole "Enemy of the state" thing to be denounced as the actions of some bigoted, Anti-Semitic terrorist group.

As the voice of General Goering, Hitler's second in command is heard, I sit on my bed, my hands clamped together, sweat forming on my brow in anticipation.

"My fellow Nazis, the Jewish menace has been eradicated from our land! Their extermination in _Kristallnacht_ has been a resounding success! Our state is now pure, free from all Jews----"

I turn off the radio, not wanting to hear anymore.

I bury my face in my hands, taking slow, deep breaths.

Why is this happening to me? Is it because my parents were born Jewish? Were they to die because they were different? Am I to die because I am different? Why? WHY?

Tears stream down my face, for my mother, for the dead, for the Jews because they were different, for my father, for myself...

Anger builds inside me, like I have never felt before, in defiance against our persecutors.

It culminates, but not in a fiery display of power, instead, my hands felt as if they were burning, a pressure in my head that was not there before kept on building and building.

Building, building.

Until it exploded.

I grasp my head in pain, screaming, hoping that someone hears me...

But all I hear is the screech of straining metal, and the throbbing 'hum' of something, something invisible, straining in the background, bending around me by my will alone.

The pain in my head in inconceivable now, the screeching pain gnawing at my mind, overpowering my will...my head feels like it wants to explode, and release me from this world.

I would welcome death...indeed I would.

What do I have to live for? More Pain? More Death? Death and suffering are all I will ever know here, the light of day has left me, and now only bleak night remains.

I pray for an escape, to be free.

After all, I will see my mother and father again, and that is all I want.

But I do know I have something to live for, some higher purpose, if not, I would have stopped fighting long ago.

At that moment, my hands flare with green-tinged energy, and it makes me feel as if my flesh burns, boiling, melting off the bone.

The energy needs to go somewhere, somewhere, or I fear it will destroy me.

I gesture, waving my right hand across the room as my other hand grapples the side of my head, the pain only building as the pressure builds and builds.

I try to will the burning to go away, waving my hand again and again as if to dispel a fire.

It seems rather foolish, an errant gesture.

I hear something in the background warp, ever so slightly, bend and contort as I wave my hand, a faint "thruumm"

The air distorts, rippling as if in a desert, warped by the heat.

Metal shrieks, tearing, contorting, solid steel deforming into curved shapes.

The iron grille that bars my window is torn off its hinges, solid iron unraveling like string.

Shrapnel and specks of stone fly about, the metal support beams of my cell twist and contort, bending around me.

The guards hear the sound of the metal straining, and burst in on me.

"What in God's name..."

I turn around, and look at them.

And in me anger flares, greater than ever before.

Fools, damned fools.

They wear their hearts on their sleeves, their precious "iron cross", the banner of Hitler.

What gave them the right to be lords of the Earth, to hold life and death over the heads of their fellow man?

God?

No...My God does not kill, my God does not destroy those who have done nothing. God forgives, God loves.

He created all in his image, as equals in life...and death, not as dirt to be trampled underfoot by the guns of another.

Hitler?

Hitler is a madman, a sadistic monster who believes in his superiority, the German superiority, over his fellows, even the loyal Jews who were convinced he had truly tried to do something right!

The Nazis will fall, whether or not by my hand, as long as he heads them!

The German guard yells, telling me to stop.

"You! Boy! Get down NOW!"

I turn to him, my face white, livid with rage.

"Upon what right? Herr _Nazi_"

He strides towards me, shielding his face from the rapidly revolving stone fragments and metal.

"By the right of God and the Nazi state, you are----"

Before he finishes, I gesture, whipping my hand across his face.

I hear the "thrummmm" sound in the background again, and this time, the air bends, deforming around the trail left by my hand.

Rapidly revolving metal shrapnel swirls, following the trail of the distorted air.

They slam into the guard with blinding force, impaling him upon their ends, stabbing him through the eyes, lungs, heart.

Some move so fast that they pass through flesh and bone unimpeded, and as I hear the resounding echo of bones snap, the metal fragments strike the wall, embedding themselves deep within with a resounding "thud".

As he bleeds through every orifice in the human body, I gesture once more, and the iron grille that had forcibly been torn from the window before swirls about my hand.

And make a downward gesture.

The squelch of the Iron Grille crushing his skull and brain is music to my ears.

A symphony of pain, of revenge.

I turn my head to his compatriot, pointing his gun at my head, quivering.

"God?" I ask to the other guard.

"What do you know of God? God did not kill my family, God did not kill my fellow Jews, God did not kill my fellow MAN! You did! Who gave you God's right? No-one! Did Hitler? Did the Angels or the Archangels? God himself? No? Then who did?"

All the anger, all the rage that builds up explodes.

"Answer me!"

Silence.

"Well, the answer is----NO-ONE! You hold no damned right! We gave our lives because of your twisted, anti-Semitic ideals? Brought about by a deranged madman?"

Just then, reinforcements arrive, hurling Mustard gas into the cell.

I choke, and a guard is on me.

He takes out his pistol and uses the butt of it to hit the side of my jaw.

"Damn---"

He hits me again, blood now spilling from the side of my mouth.

"Jewish----"

I crane my head to look at him, but I am knocked down by the butt of another Nazi's rifle.

"MUTANT!"

I look at the guard, grin, and spit in his face, blood mingled with saliva.

"I...may be a Mutant, I may be different."

He hits me again, this time I almost black out.

"But I...will die...before I see you...inherit the Earth."

The butt of another Nazi's rifle connects with my skull.

And then...darkness takes me.

And I remember nothing.

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	3. Auschwitz Bound

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Three: Auschwitz Bound.**

**A/N: Sorry for the long update.**

It is said the freezing German winter bites the skin and freezes the blood cold.

Cold wind blows, snowflakes trailing in its wake.

I hear the slight tinkle as they crash to the floor, shattering.

It makes me think, something as beautiful and regally elegant as a snowflake, although so very much overlooked, and very often taken for-granted...

Can mean the world to someone.

Imagine it, something so very precious, and yet, so very fragile.

Like freedom.

Shattered like brittle ice, upon the cold stone floor of the Nazis and their "Third Reich".

I was free, I was happy. I had parents who loved me, who nursed me to health when I was sick, when I was helpless.

They say "Men are not driven by altruism." That was one of Hitler's little quotes I found particularly interesting whilst reading a book on Nazi ideology.

Whilst I may have few pleasures here in this...insufferable dump, the Nazis at least display some intelligence, and try to indoctrinate all their prisoners through books...they leave me a few of Hitler's letters, compiled into small novels.

Rather...Emetic notions on Hitler's part, to have his "enforcers" indoctrinate us with his ideals. I thought by now he'd have killed all of us – but, for that, I am glad.

Reading, to me, passes the time, and very effectively at that. But aside from that, nothing more.

It'll take a lot more than that to erase the hate.

I would have tried to break out of my current...accommodations of a padded, fortified cell with a small door slot for the cheap crap they call food over here, but I am far too tired, and the headaches, since that day, have seemed to subside.

Ironic, when you really need something, it's never really there.

It has been three days since my little...incident, to say the least, in my "solitary confinement unit", as they call it, over at the Dachau concentration camp. Needless to say, I remember nothing for the past two days since they beat me up.

In the span of what, chronologically, has been the past two days to me, has felt like weeks.

The Nazis, at least, are now more wary of me, and tend to me in groups of at least three, heavily armed, soldiers.

I am...flattered, and somewhat scared at the same time.

I know, that now, if they choose to kill me, regardless of the cost to them, there will be nothing I can do about it.

Helplessness...Not something I enjoy experiencing, and something, if given the choice, I'd rather not experience again.

Wait...no -- WILL not experience again.

My breath mists before my eyes as I breathe in and out, exhaling and inhaling.

A testament to the rumors of the German Winter...the biting cold, the winds that cut and shear flesh to the bone...

The season where nothing grows, where death abounds and life slinks away, its vibrant glow gone...unto what would seem forever.

I occupy my time, watching my breath mist as I exhale, twisting itself into rather...odd shapes.

Odd times deserve odd past-times, and today, I occupy myself watching my misting breath twirling and contorting itself into...admittedly --- pleasing shapes.

My repertoire of thoughts on life, freedom, and what shape the next breath was going to take are rudely interrupted by five burly, heavily armed, Nazi guards.

"Five guards...must be something rather important", I think to myself. They usually only come in threes.

"You're coming with us, Mutie." says the first guard, as flecks of his spit fly into my face.

He motions to the two other guards to take me, and they grab me by the arms and haul me upright.

I look at the first guard, and smile at him.

"What're you smiling at, huh?" he responds in a very gruff, brutish tone.

"Oh...Nothing" I respond.

"Just Marveling."

"At what?" he barks.

"That if, and only if, I am right, that, according to the bible, that I presume you are very educated with...being in Hitler's army and all...if God made Man from Clay, he must not have been very 'artistic' when he made you? Eh? Herr _Nazi?_"

He grimaces, and hits me with the butt of his rifle.

The searing pain flashes through my head again, and is too much for me.

My vision goes black.

But, before I totally lose consciousness, I mouth a few words off.

"Pathetic...Homo...Sapiens..."

One more blow from the rifle sends me totally unconscious.

This is getting really...annoying...to say the least.

Next I wake up, I am on a truck, to where I do not know.

I try to move my right arm to tap the shoulder of the man next to me, but then, I realize I can't move my arms.

Shackles, how...ingenious.

I instead use my foot to tap on his thigh, and he looks at me, and asks.

"Yes?"

"Where are we headed to, Friend?"

He responds, and the tone in his voice carries with it, a tone of resignation.

"To Auschwitz." He says.

"But that's all the way in the country-side! What are we going to do now..."

My thoughts are interrupted by the disconcerting "creak" of metal gates opening to admit the truck.

Wherever we were supposed to go to, we have arrived.

As the gates close, I peer out from the open back of the truck, to make out a sign hung on them, receding into the distance but still visible.

"ARBEIT MACHT FREI"

In German, it means Labour Liberates...

Scrawled in black paint on a rickety wooden plank, those words would come to haunt me time after time.

As the gates closed shut, the Nazi officers locked it.

As we reach our destination, the truck stops, and the Nazi Officers driving it gets out of the driver's seat.

He comes around, and motions to us all to get out of the truck.

We jump out of the truck, one by one, shackled at the hands to each other.

I gaze around Auschwitz, or rather...my new home.

Barracks line the camp grounds in rows, labour areas positioned at spots around the camps, where we will no doubt be asked to do manual labour the Nazi army obviously considers too...lowly for those of "pure" blood.

Idiotic fools.

Arrogant, self-righteous fools.

Gas chambers are positioned near the labour areas, upon which the Nazi officer proceeds to tell us that those "unfit for labour" will be...put to sleep.

"Arbeit Macht Frei" he tells us, saying that work and work is all we will ever know.

"If you are not fit enough for work, but still have some value left in your useless frame, you will be sent for...tests."

One prisoner asks, "What tests"

He is shot dead on the spot, his body falling in a graceful curve.

The officers unlock him from his shackles, and cart his body away.

"Oh, and another thing, no questions, or you die." says the Nazi officer.

Anger flares in me, again, at the extent of the injustice here, in Germany, in Europe, in the human race even!

They deserve to die! All of them, I will...

But logic and sane thinking overwhelm the crimson tide, and I know that here, I will be shot dead before I escape.

And even if I do, I will have no strength to go far before I am hunted down and tortured.

I quell the anger, and whisper to myself.

"You may have silenced my voice..."

I pause, and glare at a passing Nazi

Fortunately, he doesn't notice.

And I continue.

"But you will never destroy it."

END

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	4. The Sonderkommando

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Four: The Sonderkommando.**

**A/N: The Sonderkommando are those Jews fit enough, or unfortunate enough, to be assigned by the Schutzstaffel to cart off dead bodies from over-work or from the gas chambers or Nazi 'tests' in World War II German Concentration Camps.**

**A/N: Dr. Josef Mengele is the physician at Auschwitz, known there as the "Angel Of Death"**

The motto here at Auschwitz is "Labour Liberates" really...those Nazi fools should stop trying to make it seem as if they are doing something even remotely good here...

There is nothing "liberating" about what they do here...

Everyday, at that crack of dawn – no, wait...that's far too early.

At 3.00 am in the god-damned morning, the Nazi officer in charge of our "group" sounds the wake-up alarm.

It's akin to the foghorns they used around my parents' old waterside home in Bavaria.

Only more shrill...and MUCH louder.

And the penalty for failing to report in the parade square, without the proper attire...is death.

It's a daily struggle, and one not many can ever stand.

Two of my fellow prisoners reported in late yesterday to the Nazi captain taking roll call.

He ordered them executed on the spot.

One was decapitated by the Nazi captain's junior officer.

The other was just plainly shot to death.

As if to make a point, the Nazi captain then picked up the severed head of the decapitated prisoner.

He stared at it...as if transfixed by it, for quite some time.

Then, he spat on it, and tossed to at me.

He left us with a few parting words before his replacement would oversee us for our first work shift of the day.

His words still haunt me to this day.

I remember them clearly, etched into the substance of mind and memory.

"Here, you are nothing less than meat. You will serve your purpose, or you will die. No questions asked, no terms dictated. Our will dictates how you will live out the remainder of your days...for the better – or the worse."

He ordered me to dispose of the head, and I could only oblige.

As I began the long walk to the incineration chambers, I began to think.

What happens after this whole thing? Even if I do survive this "Death Camp" as I have come to call it, what happens to me if I do survive?

I am prosecuted for being a Jew, but there is something that runs deeper...something I cannot change in me.

I am also a mutant.

I have seen the intolerance of man towards his fellows on the basis of religious intolerance, and intolerance of beliefs, but now...myself, and I am sure, many of my fellow mutants out there, who have been persecuted, tortured, or left alone merely because they can hide their gifts from an cruel, discriminating world, live under the heel of evolutionary slag.

Why? Out of fear.

As humans now dominate this Earth, their will is dominant.

But nothing lasts forever.

Not even humanity.

Nature itself is triggering an extinction phase.

Like the dinosaurs, like the early caveman.

Homo sapiens are but relics.

Unable to show even the littlest shred of compassion or care for innocent life, the phase of their existence is gradually fading into twilight.

Sadly, my repertoire on this is shortly broken by the Nazi officer in charge of the incinerator.

"You, Boy! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Delivering this to you, on orders of Captain Adawolf, _herr_ Major." I respond, the anger in my voice barely suppressed by fake respect.

"Oh, yes...well, move along now." He tells me, but I know he just wants me dead.

I arrive back at the labor site, and the Captain calls for me.

"Erik Lensherr!" he yells out.

"Reporting as ordered, _herr _Captain!" I shot back.

"Show some respect, Worm!" he spits.

He walks over to me, takes out his pistol, and uses the butt of it to knock me to the ground.

My fellow laborers see me knocked down, and try to help me up.

"NO!" shouts the Nazi Captain.

Two of his men level their rifles at the kind gypsy girl who tried to help me, and cock their rifles with a very distinct "ka-chink".

"Go..." I whisper to her, "I will handle this"

She looks at me, then back to the Nazi officers and back at me again.

"Do you want to die?" I ask her.

"No..." she says to me, in a barely audible whisper.

"Then go..." I whisper back.

"Break them up! NOW!" yells the Nazi officer to his troops.

One of the Nazi soldiers puts his rifle around my neck, and drags me away.

"No! Let him go!" she yells to the Nazi officer.

The Nazi Captain strides over to her, and grabs her by her hair, hoisting her up.

"N-n-o-o-o..." I scream, my voice muffled as the Nazi soldier chokes me with his rifle.

"This one's due for some testing..." smirks the Nazi captain.

Rounding on the Soldier restraining me, he yells something to him...

"Take him to Dr. Mengele; the Angel of Death needs his demiurge..."

Before I lose consciousness, I look at the tag of the girl who risked her life to help me.

"Magda Maximoff."

I will never forget.

When I awaken again, I find myself in the infirmary.

"Awake yet? _Herr _Lensherr?"

"And you would be?"

"I – am Doctor Josef Mengele, head physician here at Auschwitz."

"The Fuhrer has instructed me to...experiment on the less worthy here at Auschwitz. I have noticed, on my daily rounds, that you are one of the more – resilient ones. You will be the first of the Sonderkommando here at Auschwitz."

"The Sonderkommando?" I respond, confused.

"Watch."

Dr. Mengele gestures over to one of his...experiments.

"This is one of the...less fit, here at Auschwitz."

Inside a glass room, strapped to an electric chair, is a rail-thin man, stripped naked, only clad with a pair of striped pants, standard labor garb.

"My experiment today, is to see how much pain the body can take, for, you see, the Fuhrer is rather...displeased at the staggering amount of Deaths over the North Sea."

"You see, the pilots of our Luftwaffe tend to get into scrapes with the RAF over the North Sea on routine scouting missions. When they eject, the piercing cold and searing heat of the explosion from their downed plane usually overloads their nervous system with pain."

"Then what does he..."

Dr. Mengele extends his hand, and tells me to be silent.

"Watch and learn."

He tweaks some dial at his workstation, and punches the dial inwards.

The poor man screams bloody murder, convulsing in agony as several thousand volts of electricity course through his already ravaged frame.

"Dr. Mengele! Stop!" I scream, reduced to begging.

He merely glances sideways, and turns the dial sideways.

The man goes into even further convulsions, his neck snapping sideways.

Only then does Dr. Mengele stop.

"What was the purpose of this?" I query.

"To see how much pain the human body can endure before the nervous system triggers a shutdown. In this case, it took him about a minute."

He smiles, and orders the dead man's corpse removed.

"The Nazi Army is far beneath these menial tasks, and the Officers have been complaining...far too much for my liking."

"Where do I come in, Sir?" I ask yet again, this time showing the proper...respect.

Dr. Mengele smiles, stroking his chin in some perversely satisfying manner.

"You are the army's replacements."

"Replacements?" I ask, confused.

"The Sonderkommando, in simple terms, are the Schutzstaffel's garbage collectors, you cart off the dead bodies of my...experiments for our beloved Fuhrer."

"Starting...with them"

Dr. Mengele gestures over to a room by his workstation, marked: "test subject failures".

He opens the door, and black bags fall out.

"What in God's name..." I whisper to myself.

Dr. Mengele opens one of the bags, and a month-old, necrotic, decaying body falls out.

The dried out skin has tightened over the man's skeleton, framing his skin against the background of his skull, in a mask of eternal torment.

"Get rid of it." He says, kicking the bag towards me.

For a while...I can only stare.

Eventually, as sanity sets back in, I cart it off to the incinerator.

Twilight sets in as I cart off the body, the orange sun disappearing over the mountain ridges over Auschwitz.

Night sets in...stars gradually becomes visible, and the light of day is replaced by the black of night.

As the twilight of humanity begins, when nightfall sets in, our utopia will come.

The shining morning of the Mutants will dawn.

Sooner or later.

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	5. Reassignment

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Five: Re-assignment.**

The stench of death lingers heavily over my new quarters, a veil of death over the living.

As one of Dr. Mengele's Sonderkommando, I have been officially...re-assigned.

I now share quarters with several of my former bunkmates...and a few new ones.

Everyday, Dr. Mengele calls one of us in to the infirmary to watch his twisted experiments, and if they are successful...it's one less body to cart off to the incinerator.

It's a terrible thing to see death everyday, and in such terrible ways.

Many of my fellow bunkmates have gone insane, mad with despair and overwhelmed with grief.

In the event that happens...Dr. Mengele pays us a personal visit.

Apparently...Dr. Mengele is of the idea our inferior will is behind our insanity.

So, he has devised a new manner of...treatment, if it can even be called that.

Dr. Mengele calls it his "mind breaker".

If you ask me, that's a rather odd name for a cure for insanity.

Sadly, true to its name, it doesn't heal the shattered will.

It breaks it even further.

Apparently, Dr. Mengele immerses the victim in a tank of ice-cold water, and then sends micro-bursts of electricity through the victim.

It overloads the nervous system, and causes the victim to asphyxiate.

Death soon follows.

Dr. Mengele's rationale is, if the will is strong enough, it will innately resist.

Even the most ignorant can tell that's a lie.

It's just another one of his methods of culling those considered "inferior" by his Fuhrer.

But what can we even hope to do?

Injustice is rife here, always present.

I feel anger and hate, spite towards all who oppress us here.

There is a saying, by a great philosopher, that "even the greatest of us can't compete with time"

The third Reich will fall, by the Grim Reaper's sickle.

And before long, so will humanity.

I have seen the worst they have to offer.

Death, War, Pestilence, Famine.

The four horsemen of Apocalypse are no myth.

They are a creation of humankind.

From their own perverted, twisted imagination.

Whatever they have come to imagine, is what is reflected in their soul.

For now...I will simple wait.

And follow what has come to be the new creed here amongst the Sonderkommando.

A new day, a new corpse.

One failed experiment after the other.

Severed heads, rotting bodies, skulls...

No rest for the weary here.

Death will come knocking far too soon.

The Nazis may think that they are god, holding life and death over our heads.

But, as I said.

Nothing – lasts – forever.

I've had many days to brood over this, as I lie on my bunk, or as I shovel away necrolysed remains of Dr. Mengele's experiments.

But today would be different, and not in a good way.

As per the norm, Dr. Mengele has some of his failed experiments for me to dispose of, but I haven't really seen him for days, he just leaves the body bags out by the physicians' office.

"Major Heydrich! Dr. Mengele has another for the incinerator."

The Major turns his head to regard me, and smiles in some oddly sinister manner.

"Is everything alright? Sir?" I query, not wanting to incur anyone's wrath today.

"Everything is fine, _herr_ Lensherr. Dr. Mengele asked me to pass you this." He says, handing me a note.

I take it from him, and stare, transfixed by it.

Sealed with wax, engraved with the physician's emblem...this is only given on official business.

What could the good doctor want with me?

I break off the seal, and read the note.

"Mr. Lensherr, it has come to my attention of your little...incident at the Dachau concentration camp prior to your transfer and subsequent arrival here at Auschwitz. Please see me as soon as possible. The penalty for failure to report is death, do not be late."

"Regards, Dr. Josef Mengele"

How could he know what happened at Dachau?

Since then my powers have not manifested themselves, with the exception that my watch tends stop dead at Magnetic North most of the time, but I thought no-one would notice.

The Dachau guard must have filed a report to him, those idiots...

Regardless...I had better stop by his office; otherwise I'd be dead where I stand.

And, as per every normal day, I begin the walk to the good doctor's office.

Its times like these I begin to appreciate the smaller things in life...

The snow beneath my feet has receded, that can only be a good thing, the biting Auschwitz winter will soon be gone.

Replaced by vibrant, warm spring...

The crunching sound of snow being crushed underfoot is still annoying though...

Ah well, beggars can't be choosers, no?

Before long, Dr. Mengele's office comes into sight, and as per usual, I knock on his door.

"Who is there?" comes Dr. Mengele's low, mocking voice from within the infirmary.

"Erik Lensherr, reporting as per orders, _herr _Doctor."

"Ah, yes, the young Sonderkommando, yes, please, come in."

I open his door slowly, trying to glance around before progressing further.

It's far too dark inside, so I merely step in.

The door closes behind me with an eerie, silent "creak" but I pay it no heed.

"Dr. Mengele? Sir?" I ask, rather frightened by this point.

"Over here" comes Dr. Mengele's voice, rolling like mist out of the darkness.

I turn, only to see Dr. Mengele standing by some odd-looking contraption, akin to an electric chair.

"Er...Sir..." I ask, "What is that – thing?"

"This device harnesses electromagnetic energy, and amplifies it in magnitude by alteration of its carrier waves."

"I've been instructed by the Fuhrer to develop alternate energy sources for the army, in light of the...sanctions imposed upon Germany by the great powers of this world."

I find Dr. Mengele's answer only raises even further questions, and so I probe further.

"But...sir...your source is?"

Dr. Mengele only smirks, furrowing his eyebrows, pulling a plastic glove over his right hand for emphasis.

"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?"

Two of Mengele's assistants, SS officers, step out of the shadows, flanking me from behind.

"Boys, put him in the chair." motions Dr. Mengele.

The two SS officers seize my hands, and strap them into the chair's restraints.

"This may be painful...so don't try to die." He mocks.

Turning some knobs at his workstation, he flips open some glass case, revealing a switch.

"You are far too valuable to die...for now at least." He smirks.

He presses the switch, and pain unimaginable courses through every fiber of my being.

Imagine a thousand volt electric shock, accompanied by the sensation of having your skin slit open by a thousand knives, only to have your raw flesh roasted slowly over a burning flame.

Now, imagine that the pain continues...again and again.

The sides of my vision are a blood-spattered red, slowly fading into black.

I pray for the pain to stop, and fortunately enough, it does.

"Hmm...interesting...this process needs refining, if I could just...perhaps..."

I am far too weak to talk now, and all I can do is merely crane my head to Dr. Mengele.

He turns to me, a twisted smile crossing his evil face.

"You have served me well, Erik Lensherr, if I can refine the energy mining process, I might just have discovered perpetual energy."

I can barely look, only hang my head.

"Do not be upset, rejoice, you have just given me the best bit of good news in a long – and I mean long, time."

Against my will, even though my body screams in protest, I speak.

"Who the hell gave YOU the right to play god with my SOUL!" I scream, my voice hoarse from the pain, yet, dripping with hate and anger, borne of all the injustice, cruelty, and death here at Auschwitz, given form by Dr. Mengele.

"You violated your own oath as a doctor, you are not worthy of the title, you...are..."

Darkness claims me, and I fall asleep.

Time passes like a blur, and the next thing I know, I am back amidst my fellow bunkmates.

"You alright, Eric?" asks one of my friends.

"I...think. Why?" I respond, my voice still hoarse.

"Well, you showed up outside the bunk door just yesterday, you looked like you'd been through hell and back, your skin was even charred to boot!"

"I...I don't remember...anything." I respond, my world still a blur.

"Well, you owe your life to Magda over there, nursed you back to health for the whole day, she even took over your Sonderkommando duties."

I crane my head to see her, only to find her sitting to my left.

"Magda..." I whisper, tired and worn out.

She looks at me, smiling, stroking my hand.

"Shh...Rest. You need it." She whispers back.

As my vision fades to black again, I can see a little halo of light.

"Magda..."

I drift into sleep, the halo fading.

But only in sight, not in mind.

We will survive this.

Together.

* * *

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	6. Shards of Hope

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Six: Shards of hope.**

**A/N: For the sake of convenience, let's say they have a radio. (They aren't allowed those little life pleasures.)**

It was said that Auschwitz was where the German Army sent the best of the worst.

Russian POWs, political prisoners, Enemies of the state...

Auschwitz also got the worst of the worst.

People like Josef Mengele, Heinrich Himmler.

The cold German winter is long gone; the biting cold and razor-sharp winds a distant memory.

The work, however, is not.

Everyday is a chore, a damned chore.

Bodies to cart off to the incinerator, Gas chambers to clean, Dr. Mengele's tests...

The sun is now the ever-present enemy, for, while the cold may linger, the heat of the burning sun overpowers it.

Blistering, biting, back-burning heat!

I – We, the Sonderkommando, would not have minded, for pain is a rather natural sensation amongst the residents here in Auschwitz.

"Arbeit Macht Frei" after all...

We didn't care as long as the work would continue unfettered by such...annoyances.

Sadly, experience has come to teach me that wishful thinking often leads to disappointment.

The body count piles up everyday, hundreds upon hundreds...

Security has been tightened, to idiotic extents.

Those that the German watch-tower lookouts deem suspicious are shot on sight.

Of all the injustice in the world, this is inconceivable.

My fellow Sonderkommando was shot in the head yesterday, merely because he kept looking over his damned shoulder!

His replacement, fortunately, has learned from his mistake.

Still...I don't know how long he's going to last either.

Unfortunately, this has sparked an even further hatred towards my damned captors.

I say this, merely because I know that any outward sign of rebellion is punishable by death, and as of late...I am having trouble keeping my anger in check.

But the hate...the blind fury, it is so tempting...

To give in now would mean avenging my parents and their deaths, the deaths of so many others I came to call "friend".

So many potential soldiers, leaders, scientists! Murdered by bigots and insecure fools! Fools who would blame others for their own shortcomings, imperfections, inability!

It was in their dark nature to band together and eliminate those who have done nothing, merely because they needed a scapegoat!

Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, the Nazi party.

The "pride and joy" of Germany...the Nazi Party leaders.

Men who had pulled Germany out of a world of plague and misery, famine and suffering; into prosperity and stature, pride and joy.

Lies.

They run from a dark past they can never hide from, so they cover it up.

Their empire was built on the blood and sacrifice of many innocent lives.

It will never stand.

And yet...As evident as this fact is...any utterance of it here would be akin to putting my head under the guillotine.

I try to make no outward motion of impudence of disrespect.

It...Is difficult.

The bodies decay ever faster in the springtime, bacterium flourishing in the humidity.

But what annoys me even more is that the noonday sun speeds up the decaying process...

As if the flies and maggots weren't bad enough, the stench is now unbearable.

But for now, I do not mind it.

Every single day's work amongst the Sonderkommando guarantees immunity from execution, in exchange for willing, and efficient, servitude.

It isn't the best exchange, but it works.

Still, every now and then, faint glimmers of hope spear the endless veil that hangs over our heads.

I remember one particularly tiring day...roughly a week ago...

Spring had just come, and the fresh scent of pine and Morningstar flowers hung over my head.

It is rather...refreshing, and a welcome change.

The vestiges of winter were still vividly present, thankfully enough, the biting cold diminished but not gone completely.

Dr. Mengele must have been one busy little bee, the body count that day was almost ridiculous...

He didn't even bother putting some of them in body bags...

To hell with it, there were skeletons out there for God's sake!

Body after body...bones, skulls, severed heads framed in a mask of terror, the occasional necrolysed human heart...

What kind of physician does a damned autopsy? It was simply ridiculous.

By the time the task was done, dusk was beginning to set in, the orange sun disappearing over the endless horizon.

I always love this part of the day.

Magda would usually lean on my shoulder, snuggling herself next to me as I watch the sun set...

I would caress her cheek, enjoying the little moments of peace we had...

The little shades of orange would soon disappear, replaced by the night sky.

By then the guards would be on patrol, and searchlights would be on.

It was then that we would depart to our bunk, and await the wake-up call.

There is never much good news on the radio these days, but it's not like it made a difference...

The news is always grim for us...

But that day...that day – was different.

The turning point might have finally come...

"The German offensive has been halted at Britain, Hitler's Luftwaffe opposed by the RAF; dogfights light the British night sky..."

To some, this was small news.

But to me, this was fantastic.

The offensive had been halted; hope was not yet dead...

I listened on, hearing tales of how the Luftwaffe, Hitler's 'indomitable' air force, had been stalemated by the British, how offensives were actually being mounted AGAINST Germany...

Happy was I that night...

Finally! Some hope!

Someone out there...knows that justice must be done.

Death was coming for Germany, even though now it was but a shade instead of a full-fledged shadow...

But sooner or later...

The veil of Death will hang over Germany as it did here.

And those self-righteous, arrogant fools will finally taste their well-deserved retribution.

And none too soon...

Somehow...I almost pity them, feeling safe and comfortable right about now...

Only to have their illusion shattered.

* * *

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	7. Uprising

**Red Sun Rising.**

**Act Six: Uprising.**

**A/N: Sorry for the long update, playing GoW.**

**A/N: I think the Sonderkommando rebellion actually happened...I don't read my history books too much though...**

My Father had told me stories of how beautiful the German countryside was...how idyllic and peaceful it was.

Many a time I had journeyed to Dachau, to Oranienburg, always during the waning days of winter.

It was so beautiful, so picturesque...

I remember – the first blossoms of spring, defiantly sprouting through the glistening blanket of snow...

The Orange sun, passing over the mountain ridges of Dachau, casting a golden-tinged hue over the trees...

Every time I think of those memories, it gives me hope.

And here at Auschwitz, hope is something in rather short supply, as is sanity.

I remember the skies of Auschwitz...a shimmering crystalline blue... where the sun cast a golden hue over the land...

But now...

The very ground I walk on is a charred black, the soil stained with ebon ash.

Where there were once flowers and plains of grass...now there is nothing.

The flowers are all dead, shriveled, decaying remains, mere husks of what they once were.

As for the grass...what grass?

More disturbing is that the ash isn't from garbage, nor is it from paper...

No...the ash I inhale and walk upon...is that of my fallen comrades, innocent lives...

It makes me sick.

Many days have passed where we of the Sonderkommando have had to endure this insanity...

We see death around us every single day...

Dr. Mengele's twisted experiments, people who have committed suicide, those sent to the gas chambers, those shot on sight for showing "disrespect"...

But the resentment will have to continue...for as long as humanly possible.

Many days have passed since Dr. Mengele's little...experiment on me, and so far, I have heard neither eye nor ear of him...

But the mounting anticipation of what is to happen...it is unbearable...

Soon...something will happen, and I know it.

And, true enough, something did.

Dr. Mengele paid the Sonderkommando a...unexpected visit, so to speak - after one particularly tiring day.

We had all crawled into our bunks, our hands black with dried blood, eyes bloodshot from the stinging ash in the air.

We have few pleasures, but rest is one of them.

Until Dr. Mengele and his SS guard paid us a visit.

They broke the damn door down, with guns in hand for Christ's sake!

He called us to step forward.

None of us did.

Why? Out of fear perhaps...

Dr. Mengele's visits only mean one of us is going to die.

"All Sonderkommando, step forward now!" he repeated.

No-one did.

Dr. Mengele then beckoned to my friend, lying in his bunk next to me...

"You, come here..." the sadistic gleam in his eyes told me all I needed to know.

My friend had no choice but to step forth, he knew what was going to happen.

Gustav...that's what I remember his name was...

"Disobedience, here at Auschwitz..." Dr. Mengele drawled out, all the while toying with his pistol.

"Is punishable..." he said, leveling his pistol at Graves's head.

"By death"

When the shot when off, his body crumpled to the floor, falling in a graceful arc.

He did not die with dignity, nor did he die with pride.

He died with shock and fear in his eyes, and hate in his heart.

No man should ever die with his eyes open...

No man...

"Now, I'll say this again, all Sonderkommando step forward."

Everyone fell in line.

"Now...We here have received word that some of you have been collaborating with French resistance groups in Southern France..." drawled Dr. Mengele, pacing up and down our quarters.

If it was some trick to un-nerve us, it was working...

"Now...step forth, and I will make this quick." He smirks, fondling his gun barrel.

No-one stepped forth.

"Fine..." sighed Dr. Mengele.

And yet, I get the feeling the good doctor doesn't even feel a tinge of regret.

He fires three shots, each into three random people.

Everyone in the room can't help but turn away.

He bends over and grasps one of the dead Sonderkommando's heads...

"Hmmm...this one's not dead" he whispered to himself.

"Lensherr!" he yells, pointing his gun at me.

"Yes! Herr Doctor!" I snap, springing to attention.

"Kill this man for me." He smirks, handing me the gun.

I can't help but think this is some kind of joke.

"Sir... you want me to...kill this man? But...he's still alive, he can be saved, he doesn't deserve to..." I sputter.

"You heard me perfectly, Lensherr, now do it." He orders, his voice grim and without mercy.

I have no choice.

As I hear the gunshots go off, I will never forget the smile on Mengele's face.

To make me murder my fellows...the people I have suffered and bled with.

This is the turning point.

"NO MORE!" I yell.

Dr. Mengele turns to me and cocks his head.

"What did you say?"

I hold Dr. Mengele's gaze, my own burning with defiance and anger, bred all of the injustice and death here at Auschwitz.

"Your time here has to end, and it will end today!" I scream.

Dr. Mengele turns to his SS cronies, and orders them to kill me.

As they level their guns to my head, my hands start to burn.

The pressure in my head - quite like what I felt at Dachau, builds again.

The guns fire, but the shots do not hit me.

"You fools!" yells Dr. Mengele, "I ordered you to – kill –him." His voice hoarse with exasperation.

I merely gesture, and the bullets turn on their masters.

The two SS men go down, but Dr. Mengele flees.

The burning sensation in my hands only intensifies, but this time, it doesn't hurt.

It feels...cooling, refreshing.

The world around me shifts in perspective, what was once wood and steel become arcs of burning crimson and emerald energy, shifting, arcing around my persona.

The lines of force that hold the world together, the substance of one of the very underlying forces of the universe itself.

I wave my hand, and the lines of force arc around me, reversing the pull of gravity, lifting me into the air...pulling metal, wood...all manner of material towards me.

I can see the guards, the outposts, the armoured cars...

All too easily...

I merely will it, and the lines of force begin to strain, to pull apart.

The metal comprising these things begins to pull in accordance, exploding into pieces of metal shrapnel, flying at speeds undreamt of.

Needless to say, no mere flesh can survive that.

Electricity arcs around my body, magnetic energy coiling and writhing around my hands.

It feels so...good, so empowering...

Our time is now.

"My fellow Sonderkommando! This is our time! For every fallen comrade, for every injustice we have been privy to, for all the death! IT – IS – TIME!"

"RISE UP!" I roar, my voice echoing over the electromagnetic thunder.

The masses of Sonderkommando roar in agreement, their chanting intensifying with every roar.

"Revenge – Revenge – REVENGE!" they roar, the tide of anger and hate washing over them.

The sky darkens, and lightning spears the sky.

Rain begins to pour, in torrents.

It is as if the magnetic field of earth itself fights with us.

Our cause is just, and we all stand ready!

We shall win this war!

I can feel the tanks and reinforcements coming to back up the SS, but they are not a problem.

A simple gesture, playing with the lines of force...

Can you say "Boom!"?

With heavy artillery gone, the SS will not be a problem.

After all, in their complacency, they have become lazy, forgotten their training.

But the Sonderkommando are driven by rage and desperation for freedom.

Usually, those who actually fight for something tend to win.

And in this case, the camp is soon ours.

But for how long...I do not know.

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